Patience needed while ACCC mulls Austar bid

An announcement on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission deliberations on Foxtel’s $1.9 billion bid for regional pay TV group
Austar
is expected today. This column says “expected" because, if the deal has taught us one thing, it is to be patient.

The regulator will outline a series of proposed undertakings and then proceed with another round of soundings among interested parties.

These undertakings will include making some movies and lifestyle programs available to internet service providers such as
iiNet
. The undertaking will make no difference to the $1.52 a share offer Foxtel announced back in May last year.

Nor will it result in the partial sell-down of
Telstra
’s 50 per cent stake in Foxtel, as some analysts have suggested (News Ltd and Consolidated Media Holdings hold 25 per cent each).

Interestingly, the undertakings are not tipped to include Foxtel’s sports programs, one of the few remaining areas of content that is not broadly available on digital free-to-air channels or internet services such as Apple’s iTunes. Former ACCC chairman
Graeme Samuel
was a strong advocate of preventing companies “locking up" premium sports rights to ensure the digital media landscape remained competitive after the construction of the national broadband network.

It will be fascinating to see what stance new chairman
Rod Sims
adopts as bids for a new set of NRL, V8 Supercar and cricket digital broadcast rights are prepared.

The importance of sport cannot be underestimated. Foxtel and Austar subscription growth depends greatly on the improved AFL rights they are currently selling. Any future undertakings that reduce their control over premium sport would be a blow.